Red vs Blue: The Search for Zeta
by rtfanfictionbros
Summary: The Project has fallen. All the surviving Agents have either been captured or are in hiding. Now, Agent Idaho must trust a supposedly "dead" Freelancer to assist him in finding a long lost friend... This Story takes place from season 7 onwards of Rooster Teeth's Red vs Blue. Rated T for graphically-violent scenes.
1. Prologue: Liar's Triumph

**Disclaimer: We do not own Red vs. Blue or any of its branch producers. All of Red vs. Blue Content is property of Rooster Teeth.**

**THE SEARCH FOR ZETA: PROLOGUE**

Sanctum Excavation Site

Pilus Expanse

UNSC

Madrigal

Chi Exos System

0330

The facility was the ruins of an ancient civilization several thousand years ago. Idaho couldn't recall the name of the race. Then again, he never liked their technology. The UNSC had uncovered it recently over the past decade. The structure seemed to be built all along the side of this thought to be natural hole in the ground. He and California were here for one reason only: To get the AI Zeta.

The AI Zeta was the AI fragment given to Idaho when he was still in the secret government project codenamed: Project Freelancer. Due to some fault he couldn't remember, all the AIs were recalled. The lucky ones were able to run away before they were due for removal, though Agent Idaho was not one of them. One week after they removed Zeta, Idaho was able to go AWOL during a reconnaissance mission. He had spent three long, bloody years looking for Zeta. But after the first year, he had forgotten his original goal. Instead, targeting Recovery agents and stealing their tech, mainly comm, to aid with his obsession to copy both the video and audio recordings, stored in a data chip in the back of the helmet of Recovery agents and dead Freelancers alike. He would the copy them onto a similar data chip and keeping it for further use. Idaho felt it was a way of being able to tell the truth about what they did. Then two weeks ago, Idaho encountered Agent California.

The story about California was not one Idaho remembered very well. The only thing about him was California was one of the three original five freelancers that actually survived the initial training. Then he was supposed to be executed. Official records say he was, but no one really knows for sure.

California came to Idaho and told him he knew where the AI Zeta was, but he required Idaho's help to be able to recover it. At first Idaho was reluctant to follow, but eventually trusted California enough to follow him, for now.

"Are you absolutely sure he's here?" asked Idaho, his Strider-class helmet making his facial expressions unreadable. California didn't dignify the question with a response. Instead he just walked towards the building which would lead to the elevation system that would take them to the facility. After a few steps, Idaho finally followed expecting a response, but always remaining four paces behind California, looking up into the dark sky as he walked.

The planet Madrigal had a special magnetic field that made it so that four times every year, they would be visible and would display a spectacular light show, shining in different colours every few minutes. Unfortunately, today was not one of those days. But even so, with special equipment, someone could still see a faint green light in the sky. Lucky for Idaho, his suit was equipped with just the device.

The most of the facility was still undiscovered. For some undetailed reason, the UNSC had abandoned the expedition to completely explore it, and the undiscovered areas were heavily locked down. The Director of Project Freelancer had made a deal with the UNSC so that he could use the facility as a storage facility, so long as he didn't attempt to unlock further rooms, which was one of California's reasons why the Zeta fragment could be here.

California unlocked the door and entered, followed by Idaho. He went to hail the elevator, but found that the controls were under a lock.

"Ultor. See if you can work around this." California said. "Of course." replied a small orange figure that had appeared on California's left shoulder, and disappeared into the control panel.

Ultor was California's AI. California claims that when he went AWOL, the insurrectionist forces allowed him to join them and gave him Ultor. He never mentioned what happened after that. Ultor is a Forerunner AI as California claims. He also claims that he is not only the last of the Forerunner AI's, but he is also the most powerful.

After about seven seconds Ultor returned to California's shoulder. "Done." Ultor said as the door to the elevator opened.

California proceeded inside the lift followed by Idaho. Then Idaho pressed the touch screen to take them to the facility and the doors slid shut. After about twenty seconds, Idaho took the Carbine from off his shoulder and examined it, checking whether the ammunition in the rifle was full. Neither of them said anything as the doors slid open.

Idaho exited the elevator first, his Carbine at the ready position with the safety still on. He scanned the area to make sure it was clear. The hallway was very wide with a very high ceiling with what looked like catwalks. His radar did not read any motion. He lowered his gun and gave the signal that it was clear. But California didn't wait for him and was already at a console where he plugged the data chip Ultor was stored in.

"Where is it?" California said in his baritone voice.

The avatar of Ultor appeared as what looked like a Roman Legionnaire, except g he was glowing orange. "Sub section 3. Room 15. Cargo crate Z-78." Ultor replied.

California unplugged Ultor and placed him back into his Recon-class helmet. This time, California led the way. After going through a series of empty hallways and going down another elevator like platform, California finally stopped at a door.

"What's the hold-up California?" asked Idaho.

"This door is triple locked." California said without turning his head "Well. It shouldn't be a problem for Ultor right?" Idaho queried. "It's not that." California said turning his head a little this time. "Get ready." Idaho nodded and grabbed his Carbine, as California grabbed one of his tomahawks. The door slid open.

This time, California entered first. He looked in both directions before making his first step into the room. The room was very similar to the first one, with the exception of the hallway splitting in two directions. When he was sure it was clear, he lowered his weapon and Idaho stepped forward.

"Which way?" Idaho asked with his Carbine pointed downwards.

California pointed to the right hallway. "That way. Room 15." Idaho walked very fast down the hall with California close behind him. He went to the door marked with the number '15' and pressed the button for the door to open. The door quickly slid upwards and Idaho entered.

The room was filled with crates filled with things which Idaho couldn't possibly guess. Ammunition, armour, maybe even medical supplies. But Idaho was not interested in any of them. "Which one has the capsule?" Idaho asked. "It's marked with the Freelancer symbol and is shaped like a beard box." Ultor said.

Idaho looked around and eventually found the box. Wiping some dust of it, he could see the triangle like shape logo with the strange symbols on them. He turned the lid off and it easily came off. He set it down on another box as he took out the containment capsule which housed the Zeta AI, Idaho's long lost friend would now be reunited with him once more.

"Now," Idaho said as he took out his Carbine with one hand and aimed it at California. "About this whole 'partnership'. For one, I know you're just doing this so you can get your hands on Zeta." He continued as he attached the containment device to his back. "And for another, I work alone." exclaimed Idaho. "Then why have Zeta?" Ultor asked taunting him. "Don't try to play with my words! Zeta and I are leaving, and there is nothing you can do to stop us!" Idaho shot back, holding his rifle with both his hands now.

"You're right agent Idaho. But the security system can." Ultor said.

"What are you talking about?" said Idaho as he started moving closer to the door, indicating for California to move in the opposite direction.

"Ever wonder why exploration of this facility was cancelled? When I was in the console, I awoke certain, well, factors." Ultor said cool as ever. As Idaho pressed the button to open the door and started walking out, he soon came face to face with a floating object.

It hummed in a very low pitch and had a single blue eye. It started bathing Idaho in a blue light. Most likely scanning him. Two seconds after the floating object had stopped shining the blue light on Idaho, its one blue eye turned red and it made a very low sound.

Idaho quickly guessed it was angry and pulled his magnum and fired three shots from below. It fizzed with energy and parts of it fell apart as Idaho fired each shot into it. Idaho noticed that the ceiling was flooded with the same floating prisms and each turned to look towards him and their single blue eye also turned red. One of them fired a beam of energy at him but Idaho instinctively dodged.

Idaho quickly activated his Tactical Perception armour ability and planned out his next move in his head. Idaho's tactical perception showed him very useful tips during combat, though the add-on to the armour was soon discontinued because only a person with very fast reflexes as well as knowledge of a lot of mathematics and physics could understand the information given.

It marked out the fastest route to the nearest cover, showing him how long it would probably take. As soon as he started running, he held his carbine up and started shooting at his floating attackers, at the same time dodging fire that they shot at him. He found that it only took two to four shots before he brought down one. At least the ones with no shields.

As he hid behind his cover, he reloaded his half empty rifle and plotted out his next move to the door. There were only two other walls of cover he could hide behind so he had to move quickly. Idaho quickly decided that he had to take a few more out before he could continue, his heart racing from the sudden need to act much quicker to survive. He thought this day would go out so much easier. But then again, he was an ex-freelancer. Anything could happen to him.

He quickly stood up from his crouched position and destroyed three more not before he heard the humming that they made before they fired their laser beams. But as he turned around, he saw that the robot targeting him had been smashed and had a tomahawk in what Idaho presumed was its brain. He looked up and saw it was California. California acknowledged Idaho with a nod and pulled his tomahawk out of its head. California was then forced to crouch again to dodge the laser beams.

California just activated a big shield made of energy that resembled a riot shield. The shield glowed orange as it protected California from the blasts.

"What are these things Ultor?" Idaho asked while reloading. "They are Sentinels. They were built by the Forerunners, the same beings that created me. There are many types of them. These ones are designed to defend installations and facilities from intruders. They are all designed for the purpose of maintaining facilities and installations." Ultor explained for Idaho as California shot down a few with his battle rifle. "Good to know. What say we work together until we're out of this mess?" Idaho asked. "That is a very intelligent conclusion, Agent Idaho." Ultor replied sarcastically.

Idaho, ignoring Ultor, told California his plan. California, after a second to think about it, agreed. California provided cover fire for Idaho as he made his way to the exit, but one of the Sentinels escaped California's shots, but fortunately was taken out by a well-timed tomahawk throw into the sentinels "eye". The Sentinels seemed intent on stopping Idaho from leaving. Most likely they were trying to stop him from making away with the Zeta AI. 'No. Not today' Idaho thought grimly to himself as he ran.

Suddenly, a Sentinel was able to fire a blast that knock the capsule off of him and onto his back, sending Idaho sliding into the wall. The blast stung Idaho like a hot piece of metal against bare skin. Fortunately for Idaho, the suit of armour he wore protected him from most of the blast. The capsule slid along the floor, out the entrance, and at California's feet. Idaho suddenly whirled around remembering about California's short range teleportation ability. He also realised that from the beginning, California had thought it out. He had planned this. Or maybe he didn't. Maybe Ultor had. From travelling for a week with him, he had learned that Ultor actually did most of the thinking for him, made the strategic plans, sometimes even talking for him.

"No. Don't do this California!" Idaho shouted as he rolled behind cover as he was nearly hit by another blast. California picked up the capsule and turned on his shields to protect him as he moved towards the door control panel, ripping apart any Sentinel that stood in his way or stabbing it with a forerunner device that, when activated, formed into an orange coloured spear comprised mostly of something Ultor called 'hard light' (excluding the parts of the actual device which projected the hard light) that disintegrated anything it touched.

"Vos qui estis morituri te salutant nos" said California as he saluted and pressed the button to close the door. "I will find you California. I will find you!" Idaho shouted as the door closed, firing at the Sentinels as he did.

Idaho, suddenly lit with a new determination reloaded his rifle and got ready to finish the rest of the Sentinels, knowing that even if he did, it was only the start.

Written By: Sze Khun Lim and Liam John Stuckless (Edited by Liam John Stuckless)

Creation Team: Liam John Stuckless, Sze Khun Lim, Mason Jaffrey and Tanner Prunty


	2. Chapter 1: Rescue Rescued

Sanctum Excavation Site

Pilus Expanse

UNSC

Madrigal

Chi Exos System

0645

Agent Oregon stood at the top of a small hill that overlooked the excavation site. He had stopped because he was waiting for his AI, Ares, to finish with the final scans.

"Are you done yet? I don't exactly like going in blind." asked Oregon. "Can't you wait for a fucking few seconds?" said Ares, as he formed his little avatar, one sixteenth Oregon's size, on his shoulder. The avatar was a red male in a MJOLNIR Mark VI helmet with a football jersey that had the number '45' on it. "There are no life signs, but there is a fuck-load of this strange feedback when I run the scans."

"Can you identify them?" asked Oregon. "Why don't you do it?" replied Ares obnoxiously.

Oregon grunted, annoyed at Ares for the quality of information Ares gives, as always. Ignoring it, he slipped on his Rogue class helmet and started walking towards the elevator that would lead to the facility. The green and yellow colours on his armour are hardly noticeable on the planet due to the lack of light.

While he walked, he pressed a button on the side of his helmet which would activate his Local Stealth System, or LSS. The LSS would generate an invisible electro disruption field which would allow him to not be detected by any form of scan or radar. Along with that, he would also be invisible to surveillance systems but could still be seen through direct sight.

Oregon entered the building which housed the elevator which would take him into the depths of the facility. He jabbed the touchpad to hail the elevator. Just as he did, Ares appeared next to him.

"What is it?" Oregon asked curious. "This is an elevator." Ares said. "Yeah, you don't say." Oregon replied cocking his head as he did. "Yeah, the elevator that leads down into a classified, not to mention, abandoned Forerunner dig site. And here it is up and running." Ares finished.

Oregon thought about it for a few seconds and decided to be more cautious. As he walked into the elevator when it arrived, he removed his Bolt-shot from its holster and pressed the touchpad which would take him down.

As he travelled down several metres he asked Ares, "Are you sure this is the right Forerunner dig site?" Ares appeared on his shoulder once more. "Well then, since you are so unconfident in my abilities, maybe next time you can tap the UNSC communications channels, and next time you can decipher the encrypted codes, AND NEXT TIME YOU CAN DRIVE THE FUCKING SHIP!"

Oregon paused for a moment. "I do drive the fucking ship." Ares paused for a second. "We are descending into unknown territory and you are distracting me from my scanning." Ares said as he turned off his avatar, losing his verbal battle with Oregon… for now.

As the door opened, Oregon stepped out cautiously. In each hand, he held a Bolt-shot at the ready. He made his way right down the corridor to a large door. He tried to unlock the door but found that it was locked by a virtual lock. Oregon was able to open it with ease.

Oregon thought to himself, 'This isn't a normal UNSC lock style.' Even though every lock is different, something about this one just didn't seem... Familiar. But it was not especially difficult to open, so it was not the problem at the moment.

As he passed through the alien doorway, he was in a large hallway with rectangular-shaped lights built into the ceiling that glowed blue shining the way. Along the sides of the walls were what looked like power lines. As he continued to walk, he reached another, much larger door. As he tried to access it, he found it was locked. He tried for a few minutes to break the encryption, but was unable to. The pattern of the lock was constantly creating new patterns. Only an AI was clever enough to keep up with the self-generating patterns.

"Ares, you think you can pick this lock?" Oregon asked as Ares' avatar appeared on his shoulder. "What's the matter? Can't pick a simple lock?" Ares said tauntingly. "Just open the damn door already."

Ares' avatar moved from the top of Oregon's left shoulder, to the console. In a few seconds, Ares was able to decode the virtual lock.

"Done" He said. "And maybe tomorrow, I can teach you how to actually pick a virtual lock."

In reality, it was very hard for Ares to decode the lock. The only reason that Ares could do it and Oregon couldn't was that Ares was able to overtake the speed of the random pattern generator.

Oregon waited for a few seconds. "Well, why isn't it opening?" Oregon asked turning his head to Ares. "What? Must I do everything?" Ares responded.

Oregon pressed the console and stepped in the centre where the two large doors would slide apart. The door groaned for a moment and then silence. The door however, still did not open.

"Come on you pathetic piece of ancient machinery!" Oregon yelled though not receiving a response from the door. "Why won't you open?" He said as he kicked the door and in a second, the door slid open and a red beam of energy hit Oregon in the chest, knocking him onto the floor.

The heat of the beam burned Oregon's skin and scorched the armour on his chest. "Oh crap, Oregon!" shouted someone on the other side of the door. Immediately, there was a loud clanking sound before Idaho rushed out of the room and kneeled on one leg next to Oregon. "Come on, say something." A low groan came from Oregon. "I'll take that as 'I'm fine.'

"Help me up please." said Oregon with his left hand extended. Idaho grabbed it with his right hand and pulled him up to his feet. "Thanks man. But why the hell did you just blast me?" Oregon said pointing his finger at Idaho. "Me? You're the one not telling me you were going to open door." Idaho asked pointing his hand at himself first, then at Oregon. "Didn't you here the door mechanics working?" Oregon asked gesturing to the large door. "I thought I was finally about to bust through the doors."

Oregon sighed, "Well you're welcome by the way. By the looks of it, it would've taken you a few more hours to bust down the door." "Really, Jesus these doors are though." Idaho said turning first to look at the doors, then back at Oregon. "What do you mean?" asked Oregon as he walked towards the doorway to examine the doors. "I mean, I completely used up all the C5 from two storage rooms and it still didn't bust down." Oregon stopped and looked at Idaho. "Really? Well that's Forerunner tech in a nutshell for you." "Yeah, I really never liked this shit." Idaho said while walking towards Oregon. Oregon nodded remembering about Idaho's phobia of Forerunner technology.

Idaho was the only Freelancer who had a phobia of Forerunner tech. Fortunately for Idaho, this did not affect his abilities in the field of combat. Oregon did not remember very well, but he did recall that Idaho first gained this fear when he, along with a handful of Freelancers were tasked with an operation involving clearing out a Forerunner facility which the Insurrectionist were using as a base of operations. When he arrived, the Insurrectionist activated a device that shut down the MJOLNIR suits that they were wearing causing a total armour lock. Agent Idaho was frozen for about, one and a half hours, as Oregon was trying to recall. Only when a strike team lead by Agent York came to clear out the facility were the suits reactivated and unlocked. The other Freelancers that survived said that most of them were shot down with a bullet right in the visor. They say Idaho was seconds away from being killed if it weren't for Agent York.

"Well, I appreciate your help and all. But I've got to go and do my things and you've got to…" Idaho paused. "What are you doing here again?" Idaho asked. "Ares and I are looking for Forerunner tech that we can use for upgrades." Oregon said. "Not to mention the unnecessary shit that Oregon just what to keep because it looks shiny." Ares said appearing on Oregon's shoulder.

"This is Ares by the way." Oregon said "Ares, say hello." Oregon said. "Sup bitch!" hollered Ares. "Yeah, nice to meet you to." Idaho said.

"What are you doing here by the way?" asked Oregon. Idaho sighed "It's quite a long story." "Well I'm listening." Idaho looked like he was about to speak, but then decided not to.

"Look, as much as I'd love to stick around in an underground Forerunner facility and tell stories, I really need to go." Idaho said and turned to walk away. "Fine, go then." Oregon said. Oregon quietly thought to himself for a while.

"Wait, Idaho." Idaho stopped walking and turned around to face Oregon. "What?" asked Idaho. Oregon walked up and patted Idaho on the back. "Good luck with whatever your doing." said Oregon. "Uh, thanks. Same to you." Said Idaho as he continued to walk towards the exit. Oregon turned to walk the other way. "Oh, and Oregon?" "Yeah?" Oregon replied as he stopped to turn to Idaho as he saw that Idaho had done the same. "Take my advice and don't go that way."

Under his helmet Oregon smiled. "I'll take your word for it." Idaho nodded and walked out the door, closing it as he walked through it. "Yeah right, I came here for Forerunner tech and I aim to get it." Oregon muttered to himself. When he tried to open it, he found that Idaho had locked it with a simple lock. He easily unlocked it and the door slid open easily and slowly this time.

When he walked into the room, he noticed that odd looking shapes that glowed blue were floating around the room. Just as Oregon was about to draw his sidearm at the robots, Ares appeared on Oregon's shoulder. "Hold up cowboy." Ares said quickly as Oregon was about to pull the trigger. "I don't think they see you." Oregon hesitated for a while, but lowered his gun when one of the robots flew over his head and out the doorway. "It must be the stealth system." Oregon said as he watched the robot interact with the wall. "No. It's your amazing ability to point out the obvious." Oregon sighed "Let's just get this artefact before the system fails or something." Oregon said as he turned to walk in the other direction.

"By the way, is the tracking device in place?" Oregon asked Ares. "Yeah, it's working." Ares said, bored that he has to answer a question that Oregon could have answered himself. "But I don't think I follow." Ares said looking at Oregon. "Why did you stick a tracking device to that asshole, Idaho?" Oregon didn't look back at Ares. "Because" Oregon started as he continued walking. "We could use the extra help. And it would be better if I just didn't have you watching my ass." Oregon said turning to face Ares. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't exactly trust you."


	3. Chapter 2: 3 Birds One Brick

Creon Asteroid Belt

Turous

Raxus System

1320

Three Days Later

Idaho sat in his ship that had just landed on a large asteroid. After Oregon had unlocked the door that held Idaho captive, Idaho had made his way to the nearby UNSC base of operation and hid on a cargo ship that took him into the orbital fleet, where he snuck aboard the space station, stole a slip-space drive and attached it to the engines on a Longsword-Class interceptor. Idaho had just left slip-space in the past hour, and was trying to find out where Agent California was. California had double-crossed Idaho by tricking him into helping him locate and recover the Zeta AI.

He had been tapping the UNSC communications channel, when out of nowhere, a small Covenant patrol fleet warped out of slip-space near the asteroid belt. Idaho had thought that while his main objective was to find Zeta, he wouldn't mind having some practice against the alien crusaders who glassed not only his home planet, but the home planets of thousands of men and women everywhere. These aliens brutally murdered thousands for a religious practice, and Idaho wouldn't miss a chance to make them pay for such a sin.

He was now waiting and observing the fleet. It consisted of four Battle-Cruisers, and seven Corvettes, that were flying in a formation Idaho recognised. The Battle-Cruisers would fly in a formation where the four ships flew in a diamond-like formation, and the ship at the rear end would fly slightly higher than the ones in front of it, with the corvettes flying in a sort of circle around the battlecruisers. He recognised this pattern as one often used by fleets on patrol or ones searching the stars for more human worlds to destroy.

Idaho shook his head to bring him back to reality. He was waiting for the right time to board the ship. His plan was to get aboard the Battle-Cruiser furthest to the end of the fleet, get inside and cause as much chaos as he could.

The time was drawing near as the Battle-Cruiser moved closer to Idaho's position. He hit the button that would open the door to let him out. When the door hissed open, the atmosphere inside was quickly compromised and the artificial gravity automatically deactivated. Idaho got out of his seat and floated to the exit. When he reached the exit, he then moved to position himself on the very top of the ship. He waited a few seconds as his Tactical Perception helped make his final calculations. If his timing was off by a microseconds, Idaho could miss his chance at an easy entrance. He quickly checked his weapons to make sure that they were fully loaded, not that he would be short on weapons in there.

The time was just right, and Idaho kicked himself of the Longsword that it pushed him through the air like a bullet, the sun shining light on his yellow-edged blue armour. Fortunately for him, the Covenant didn't bother to scan for anything bigger than the size of a car, so he would have the element of surprise on his side.

As he got closer to the ship, he prepared himself to land. He hit the hull of the ship with a thud. 'Great. Too bad that was the easy part.' thought Idaho to himself as he looked for a way to enter the ship. He sneaked along the path to the bridge, preferring not to fight his the way to the bridge from the engine room. He soon found a small maintenance shaft, which he opened by pressing a holographic pad next to the door, and as soon as it opened, he dived in head first.

He closed the door behind him which activated the artificial gravity and started to crawl to the next door. The hallways were dark, lit by only two small alien flood lights every six feet. He soon reached a entrance along the floor of the tunnel. He accessed it and it opened with a hiss. He looked around first to make sure it was clear. There was no one there. Nothing appeared on his motion tracker either, so he presumed that the area was clear. He jumped down and somersaulted in mid-air and landed with a thud.

He had to find a map which would take him to the bridge because Idaho had no idea which was port or starboard on a ship like this. He accessed a console on pedestal and it showed him some strange symbols. Luckily for him, all the Freelancer's suits were equipped with the UNSC's best translation software to help understand the Covenant's alien language; Idaho never knew how important that was until now. He touched the symbol which translated as 'NAVIGATION' on his HUD. It opened a diagram of the ship's layout and Idaho's current location. At the bow of the diagram of the ship was an area translated as 'CONTROL' which Idaho presumed was the bridge. He plugged a chip into the terminal to download the alien directories. In a few seconds, the map was downloaded and Idaho removed the chip and plugged it into the back of his helmet. The map soon appeared in the corner of his HUD and his virtual compass in his helmet helped him keep track of the right way.

Suddenly, he heard the door at the far end beginning to open. Idaho had no time to run to the other door and he could not make the jump to the maintenance shaft. His only option was to face his enemy and eliminate them as fast as he could. He ran to the door as it opened, screaming a war cry in his helmet as he did.

When the door opened, Idaho was face-to-face with two very surprised Jackals and four very scared Grunts. Idaho activated his energy daggers on his arms, which he stole from a Sangheili warrior in a previous encounter with the Covenant. He stabbed one into the chest of one of the Jackals and cut the throat of the other one. The two Jackals dropped dead on the floor. Idaho didn't stop however; as he quickly moved to stab the two Grunts standing in front of the group of surprised aliens, and quickly moved to smash the heads of the two other Grunts against each other. All four of the Grunts dropped to the floor and Idaho deactivated his alien daggers.

He wondered what to do with the bodies, whether to get rid of them or not to. In the end, Idaho decided they were all going to die in the end, so he just left the bodies where they fell and began to walk towards the door that would take him to the bridge.

Idaho made his way around the ship's corridors very stealthily, trying to avoid any more confrontations to avoid alerting the entire ship, needing only to strangle a Grunt that caught a glimpse of him making his way through a bend in the hallway. As he walked, he used pillars and racks of weapons as cover.

He opened the next door, backing away as it did. He peered around and saw he would need to cross a catwalk. There was one Elite standing watch along the catwalk, so Idaho would require killing him before he would be able to continue. Idaho quickly sprinted to a rack of weapons as cover. However, the Elite had heard his footsteps and went to investigate. As soon as Idaho caught sight of the Elite, he jumped at it and stabbed it in the throat, letting only a squeal of pain to exit the alien.

The Elite had its weapon in its hand and as Idaho had killed it, so it slid across the floor and was now about to fall off the edge of the platform. Idaho quickly jumped and grabbed it just as it fell. But as Idaho got up, he realised that a Jackal on the opposite platform had seen him and was now trying to reach the alarm. Idaho quickly discarded the Elite's weapon and was reaching for his carbine. In one fluent motion, he drew his rifle and shot the Jackal in the head. Unfortunately, the sound of the gunshot had alerted another Elite on the opposite lower catwalk to his presence, and the Elite ran to trigger the alarm. Idaho shot the Elite in the head three times and killed it, but it was pointless. They knew he was here, and he had to move.

Idaho now sprinted to get to the bridge shooting down anything in his way. As he opened the next door, he was met with two very large, very angry Hunters. They both fired their Fuel Rod Guns at him at the same time. Idaho quickly dodged them by dolphin-diving to a nearby pillar. He got up and quickly primed two grenades. He ran around the pillar, but just as he did, the Hunters had already prepared their next shot and fired the second the caught a glimpse of him. He dodged both the explosive rounds using his Tactical Perception to step to one side and run up against one Hunter. The Hunter attempted to bash Idaho with its shield, but Idaho quickly dodged it and once he got around it, he punched the two frag grenades into the Hunters back as hard as he could. He quickly ran away as the Hunter turned to hit him, groaning with pain. Just as he turned, the grenades exploded and blew chunks of the Hunter out of it's back. Idaho smirked under his helmet but was cut short as the other Hunter tackled him to the ground. Idaho quickly got back up and ran straight towards the Hunter. Just as the Hunter tried to hit Idaho again, Idaho quickly jumped into the air and grabbed onto its armour, where he vaulted over the Hunter and grabbed the back of the armour. He let himself hang by one arm as the other had removed his submachine gun and was emptying a clip into the Hunters back. His gun was almost empty, but just as he thought he would need to regroup to finally kill it, the ammo depleted and the Hunter fell lifeless to the floor with an agonising groan. Idaho quickly ran to the next room, switching magazines as he did.

He finally reached the door that would take him to the bridge, but it was guarded by two Brutes. One was holding a Gravity Hammer, the other had a Spiker. Idaho quickly drew his Carbine and they both fired at the same time. He fired four times and the Brute fell to the floor, but Idaho dodged it quickly enough so that only one spike hit him in the shoulder. But while he was distracted by the first Brute, the other one had been able to get closer to Idaho and in a split second, hit him with the hammer and knocked him to the floor. The hit had crushed his left kneecap and Idaho was clenching in pain. The Brute was charging at him, about to smash him with the hammer.

With all of Idaho's will and strength, he got up and stumbled to the side clear of the hammer, still clenching his knee as he did. The brute however, used the momentum of the hammer to knock Idaho down again by swiping the hammer to the side. Idaho didn't get off the floor knowing it would take a while before he could get up again. The Brute slowly walked over to him, put one foot on Idaho's chest and brought the hammer up, but just as he was about to bring the hammer down, Idaho drew both his Magnum and his SMG, and fired all the bullets into the Brute's chest. This caused the Brute to scream in pain, stumble backwards and fall over. After that, Idaho quickly got back up, threw his weapons aside and picked up the hammer near fallen Brute. He then brought it up above the Brute, and then swung it down.

The door to the Bridge opened and the pilots driving the ship turned to look at Idaho with shock and fear. Idaho, dragging the hammer in one hand and the Brute's body in the other walked into the room. The pilots seemed ready to die, simply of shock. But the Prophet Commander just stood and watched. He turned to look at one of his pilots and nodded at him. The pilot nodded back and pressed a button. The door closed behind Idaho. 'Guess there's no turning back.' Idaho thought, breathing very heavily after the last fight. Two Elite's joined their commander as he walked down from his chair. One had two Energy Daggers, one had an Energy Sword and the commander had two swords. The commander looked to the other Grunt and Elite pilots and said in their alien language, "Shoot him!" They all got out of their seats and drew their weapons to shoot Idaho. Idaho quickly used the Brute's body to protect him as bolts of plasma hit the body. Peering around the body, Idaho dropped the hammer, reached for his Magnum and shot all of the pilots in the head, firing twice for the Elite pilots. They all dropped to the floor lifeless. The Elite pilot smirked and spoke, "You dare attack a Prophet of Creation. Who do you think you are?" the commander growled. Idaho dropped the Brute's body and responded in English, "My name is Idaho, you fucker." The Elite Commander screamed the words "Kill him!" in his alien language, and as he did the two Elites charged at Idaho.

As the first Elite with two Energy Daggers reached Idaho, he picked up the hammer and swung it as hard as he could. The hammer sent the Elite flying across the deck. Idaho had just enough time to recover and swing at the second Elite. It was smarter though, and dodged the hammer as Idaho brought it down and then, used it's sword to cut the hilt in half. Idaho quickly then used the hilt to hit the Elite in the chest and then, used his daggers to slit the Elite's throat. The commander then slowly walked to Idaho in a battle ready stance. Idaho looked at the hilt of the hammer and threw it at the commander. The commander easily sliced it in half and was able to get back into its position. Idaho activated both of his daggers and the two of them circle each other for a while.

It was Idaho who made the first move, running at the Elite. The commander easily blocked Idaho's quick jabs and slices. When Idaho started to weaken, it was the commander's turn to be on the offensive. The two of them parried each others blows for a few seconds. Idaho's perception was only matched by the Elite's mastery of the skill when Idaho finally was able to catch the commander off guard and twisted its left arm causing it to drop its sword. The Elite then pushed Idaho out of the arm-lock and activated a dagger. But this one was different, it glowed red. Idaho and the Elite blocked each other's blows for a while when they locked their blades. Neither of them was going to back down now. But then, Idaho's right dagger shattered. And he fell backwards. 'A dagger that can break other energy weapons, interesting.' Idaho thought. But right now was not the time for Idaho to be thinking. The dagger flickered on and off. Idaho tried to get up but he knew it would be pointless as the commander was standing directly above him. As the commander brought his sword up to deal the final blow, Idaho blocked it using his remaining dagger, knocking it aside so that the Elite stabbed the ships hull. Idaho took this chance and tackled the Elite to the ground. He quickly shoved his right fist into the hole in the bottom of his mouth. As he brought his fist back up, the dagger flickered, slicing the Elite's head in two. Idaho had finally won.

Idaho got up and as he did, he felt several shocks in his right hand. He quickly removed the dagger and threw it on the floor. It fizzed and surged and then exploded in a ball of blue and purple. He then looked down at the dead commander. He used his last dagger to slice off the Elite's left hand and to remove its dagger. He then strapped it to his right hand. He activated to test how it felt. It felt the same as a normal Energy Dagger. He sliced a nearby console with it and it destroyed it. Idaho grinned for a second, but then was cut off by the aching pain in his knee. He took the dead Brute's left knee brace that he had removed earlier and hooked it to his belt, removed the crushed kneecap, injected some Bio-foam, and using a welding torch that he brought along from the Longsword, attached it to his knee. It felt heavier than the kneecap, but he felt much safer with this one. 'You take from your catch what you need.' He recalled his grandfather telling him. Idaho's grandfather probably didn't mean it like that, but Idaho had his own way of seeing things.

He then heard the door open, a group of Grunts and Jackals walked in shocked by what they saw. Idaho quickly got up and shot them all with one clip of Carbine rounds. He then ran to the door and shut it but not before sticking a grenade to the door console on the other side. 'I need to get out of here.' Idaho thought. 'But not before blowing up this ship.' Idaho thought as he walked to the ships navigational console. He then set a course for the Battle-cruiser in front of the one he was in. He then walked up to the console to control the ships power balance to divert all the power to the ships engines. He felt the ships increase in speed. 'Now, how to get out of here?' he thought as he looked towards the door and saw sparks flying from the centre of the door indicating that the crew were trying to get into the bridge. Idaho then looked around the deck of the bridge. He then turned and looked at the fuel cells, and grinned.

Idaho had piled up all the fuel cells he could find onto one side of the wall and had found a fuel rod gun to ignite it. He stood against the opposite wall and just as he pulled the trigger, the door broke down and a group of Brutes were trying to understand what was going on while a group of Elite's were screaming. Idaho pulled on the trigger and in a second, as he, along with the Covenant were sucked out into space. He turned around to look at the hole in the hull he had made. It was still burning as the ship flew closer to the unaware Battle-cruiser. A group of jetpack propelled Elites continued to pursue Idaho as the ones that weren't wearing any form of protection from the vacuum of space struggled to not freeze and suffocate. He kicked himself off the body of a choking Brute and shot two shots into a Grunt. The jetpack Elites were getting closer and tried to shoot him, but Idaho was too out of control for them to be able to predict a pattern. Eventually, Idaho positioned himself and shot all the Elites, except for one, whom he shot in the jetpack, cracking the casing and causing it to explode in a ball of blue light. He kicked himself off a sheet of metal that broke off the ship when he blew the hole in the hull and headed straight towards the last Elite. The Elite was able to hit Idaho once with a bolt of plasma as Idaho came tumbling towards it and crushed its oxygen mask with his hand. As it suffocated Idaho removed its jetpack and attached it to himself as he propelled himself back to his ship, but not before watching the collision between the two ships and the wreckage flying in all directions, hitting other ships. A large chunk actually ripped apart one of the Battle-cruiser's starboard side. Idaho grinned again and stared at the sun. 'Yeah, just some target practice.' he thought as he flew towards his ship.


	4. Chapter 3: Mess with the Bull

Isolated Forerunner Facility

Galerius

Lucan System

Two days later

California tore the Promethean Crawler in half like it was a piece of cardboard. As the body disintegrated, he loosened his grip and allowed the halves to drop lifelessly to the floor. His gold edged red armour gleamed in the orange light that was emitted through the lines along the wall. He looked around the room, hard-light spear in hand, searching for anymore enemies to kill. All that remained of the Promethean-Guardians was essence of orange plasma on the floor and on the walls.

California retracted the spear as he removed Ultor's chip with his free hand. "Is that all of them?" asked California. "Indeed." responded Ultor as his avatar of a Roman Legionnaire appeared. California holstered his retracted spear. "Where is it?" California asked. Ultor pointed to a metallic box that had no corners. "There, the device is there." California inserted Ultor back into his helmet and began walking toward the box.

"I have to say, I had not seen this coming." said Ultor. "What. The Prometheans?" "Yes, I thought the Librarian had taken all of his Prometheans and locked them away on Requiem with him. I'm guessing that the Didact found this device important enough to store some unlinked Prometheans here to guard it." Ultor explained as he put his hand to his chin. "Well, when you create a device which can project a hard-light image of someone, you would think that you would want to keep it somewhere safe." "I suppose so. I recommend that during combat, if I were to use The Projector it would be far more effective, due to the fact that it would take equal effort in fighting to control your holographic duplicate as it does for you to fight with your own body." "Well." California started as he pulled Ultor's chip out and prepared to insert it into the lock slot of the box. "Let's just see if it works or not." As California inserted the chip into the slot and the box began to float and glow orange along certain lines that travelled along the box. The lid on the box slowly split into six pieces, which slowly slid apart.

Inside the box was a small circular shaped object no larger than a Grifball. Its shape was very unusual. It had a glowing sphere in the very centre, and was covered in metal plates, all with different shapes, placed in a form that would still allow the centre to be visible through lines in between the plates. But, given the nature of the origins of the object, California was not surprised. California slowly took it out with both of his hands and as soon as California touched the ball, it started to glow and pulse orange. The ball was not very heavy, but it was also not very light either. California eventually lifted the ball out of the box and balanced it in one hand to examine it with great interest. It eventually stopped pulsing and its glow became very dim.

"California, pull me and insert me into The Projector. If my precognition is correct, Idaho will be arriving soon to face us." said Ultor. Ultor has the ability to predict the future based on different events that happen. He has never been able to tell the exact future, but by eliminating certain possibilities in events that happen, he has been able to have a small number of possible outcomes to pick from. California quickly removed Ultor from the box and inserted his chip into the object known as The Projector. The lid of the box slid shut again and it dropped to the floor. It began to glow brighter and pulse again. "Just throw the sphere on the ground when I tell you to and let me handle the activation." Ultor told California. California nodded. "Oh and, to your left." Ultor said and California immediately responded by shifting his head to the right as a bullet flew by.

California had heard the sound of the gun shot only milliseconds after the bullet had flew past him. California slowly turned around. He knew who had fired the shot as was not surprised in the least that he was here. 'Ultor was right was again.' thought California and smiled a half smile. He turned to face Idaho, who was standing in the doorway.

California grinned as he spoke. "Well, well. Isn't this a nice surprise." California spoke sarcastically. "You came all this way here to look for me." "I want Zeta back, and you're not leaving here until you give him to me." Idaho demanded, with his sidearm pointed at California's head. California chuckled, "And what will you do to stop me? Talk me to death?" California taunted. Idaho quickly unloaded the entire clip of shots at California. California quickly activated his shield which deflected the bullets in different directions. When Idaho ran out of ammo, Idaho quickly placed the sidearm on his holster and drew his rifle at California. "Tell me Idaho, how would you prefer to die?" California said in an attempt to anger Idaho further knowing that Idaho had little chance to defeat him. "How about after you?" Idaho responded and fired an entire round of shots at California. The shots bounced off the shield like flies on a windscreen. California did not lose his position at anytime. He was still waiting on Ultor to give him indication to activate The Projector, which he still held in his free hand.

After Idaho had exhausted his clip, he lowered his rifle and breathed heavily, for he had held his breath as he fired the shots. "Haven't you learned by now Idaho? I'm not that easy to kill." California said as he lowered and retracted his shield. "Then I'll just have to gut you like a fish." Idaho said activating both of his Energy Daggers, anger burning in his eyes and sweat dripping down the side of his face. California smiled amused at Idaho's comeback. "I have a better idea. Why don't we put down the weapons and settle this like in the days of old. If you can beat me at hand-to-hand combat, I will give you Zeta. If you lose, you let me walk out of here."

Idaho thought about California's proposal for a few seconds. "How do I know I can trust you?" asked Idaho still in his battle ready stance. "The last time I did that, you locked me in a Forerunner facility." "You could always try to take him from me. Unfortunately, I don't think that will work out for you very well." There was a pause for a moment, and all that could be heard was the sound of the low hum of the facility around them. "Alright, no dirty tricks okay?" said Idaho as he deactivated his Energy Daggers. California did not respond but took up a fighting stance and placed The Projector on the box. Idaho got the impression that the silence that he received was a response that meant that there were going to be no promises. Just the way Idaho preferred it.

They circled each other for a few seconds, but eventually, it was Idaho who struck first. His blow missed California's head by centimetres. California struck back and after three, carefully placed blows, knocked Idaho onto the floor. Idaho quickly stood upright once more, ignoring the pain, and with a war cry, charged at California once more. This time, Idaho's fist was able to glance at California's left arm. California struck back, but Idaho was able to block his punches. California smiled to himself inside his helmet. "That's the spirit, Idaho. Give me a real challenge." he mocked.

Stopping California's blows was like trying to block concrete slabs with your hands to Idaho. Idaho was able to fight through the pain, clenching his teeth as he did, and after his Tactical Perception was able to detect that California was tiring for a split second, Idaho was able to hit California in the shoulder. Idaho had his Perception on for most of the time, but chose to ignore it during the shoot out because he knew that even his Perception had no way of getting by a shield of energy. Idaho had thought to himself 'Not even California could be aware that I have my Perception on.' thought Idaho. Unfortunately, it didn't matter if California knew or not. Idaho was determined to beat him. Idaho knew that California would never allow him to get very far with Zeta, if he still had Zeta at all. Idaho was hoping that sooner or later, there would be a chance for him to deal a deadly blow to California or one that would leave California in such a way so that California would be incapacitated for a short period of time, just so that Idaho can find out where Zeta was and get some distance between him and California. Hopefully sooner than later.

California hardly found Idaho's fighting technique a challenge. They had gone at least ten seconds and California had just about extended the chance he was willing to give for Idaho. California quickly knocked Idaho in the head which sent him sliding across the floor again. A drop of sweat ran down California's face. Even if Idaho were to somehow defeat him in the fight, he would have just used one of the three hundred ways to incapacitate Idaho that California had thought up during the fight. California grinned 'He is an interesting one. No wonder Ultor has plans for him in the future. But when that future has past, I will kill him.' California thought to himself.

Idaho had had enough. As soon as Idaho got up, he half stumbled half charged at California and as he did, he activated his Red Energy Dagger and tried to force them into California's chest. 'This time, I'll finish him for good.' Idaho thought to himself as he charged at California determined to end the fight here and now. To Idaho's surprise, all he forced his dagger into was a surge of light, as California had teleported behind him using his Promethean technology. 'Blast. He knew this was coming.' Idaho thought as he realised he had seen California's trap all too late.

California kicked Idaho to the floor. Idaho laid on the floor for a moment, then propped himself up with his elbows. "Now California, activate The Projector!" Ultor said over the communications channel to California "You have not honour when you fight." California said as he walked over to the box to pick up the Projector. Idaho quickly stood up and took a few steps back before drawing his SMG. "Ha" Idaho remarked "Who needs honour when you've got a fully loaded SM-" Idaho stopped himself "Wait." Idaho looked around the room "Where's Ultor? The whole time I've been fighting you and I haven't heard one word of that bastard."

California chuckled. "Are you really that eager to meet him?" California dropped the ball next to him. "Well, here he is." In a matter of seconds, the plates on the ball shifted apart and it began to float in mid-air. The plates then flew in four different directions and the ball began to emit an orange light which formed and odd, prism-like shape. In a matter of seconds the shape began to look like a figure and soon, the figure took the form of Ultor's avatar, with a spear and a shield in hands.

Idaho smirked. "What is it? Some kind of holographic projector?" "Oh I assure you Idaho, I am more than just a hologram." said Ultor "Care to test it?" "Sure" Idaho said before firing several shots at Ultor. When the bullets hit, the area where the bullets made contact created a wave that spread across Ultor's form. Idaho lowered his gun in a strange form of fear he had not experienced before. He had expected nothing less of Forerunner technology, which is one of the reasons why he feared it so. Idaho just never expected to be the one on the end of the sword.

"Vos qui estis morituri te salutant te." said Ultor as he began to walk towards Idaho. Idaho, sensing that he would need to give his all if he wanted to defeat both California and Ultor, quickly aimed his SMG at Ultor and began firing again, the shots bouncing harmlessly off Ultor. Idaho kept firing at Ultor until his SMG ran out of shots. Idaho quickly reloaded his SMG, but as soon as he raised his arm to aim at Ultor, California grabbed Idaho's wrist and tossed him across the room.

Idaho lay very still against the wall. California grinned as he knew that he had won the battle. No. He had known all along that this was a futile effort. But Idaho was strong and stubborn. Under circumstances Idaho and California could have been- No. That would have been a different Idaho entirely.

Idaho quickly regained consciousness. But as soon as he looked up, he was grabbed by the neck by Ultor. Ultor's hand was like a stone. Idaho found it very hard to breathe and Ultor's whole body was radiating heat, so his hand felt like hot charcoal against his Nano-weave neck. Idaho tried to struggle, but found it was useless. Ultor smiled as he tilted his head. "Not so, holographic anymore am I, Idaho?" Ultor asked before throwing him against the other side of the room and Idaho hit with a 'thud'.

California was about to walk over to Idaho's unconscious body, but just as he put his hand on the hilt of his tomahawk, Ultor said, "Not yet California." California grunted. "He will cause more problems in the future if I do not dispose of him now." "Perhaps, but the future I see requires that he live, for now."

California removed his hand from the hilt of his tomahawk and walked back to Ultor as Ultor deactivated The Projector and California removed the chip and the sphere folded into a disk shape. California attached it to his back as he inserted Ultor into his helmet. California turned to look at Idaho. "Next time." he growled as he knocked out Idaho with a single punch to the head.


	5. Chapter 4: A Friend in Need

740m away from Oregon's D96-TCE Albatross

Galerius

Lucan System

1845 Hours

"How are his vitals?" asked Oregon. Ares appeared next to the unconscious Idaho. "Do you have to ask me every ten fucking seconds?" said Ares. "He's fine. Still taking the longest forty winks I've ever recorded though." Oregon sighed in frustration.

Oregon had located Agent Idaho on Galerius two hours later after Idaho's encounter with California in the Forerunner Facility after Idaho had combated Agent California. Oregon had relocated Idaho's body out of the facility and near the site where he had landed his slip-space rigged UNSC Albatross. Oregon had taken his helmet off to clean his air filters while waiting for Idaho to awaken.

"Ok, and for the record, I asked you ten minutes ago asshole." said Oregon. Ares made a 'stop' gesture with his hand and logged off to continue to monitor Idaho's vitals. 'Fuck that asshole.' Oregon thought to himself as he finished cleaning his air filter and began to check his Bolt-Shot's ammunition levels.

Ares' avatar suddenly appeared over Idaho's body once again. "What is it?" asked Oregon putting down his guns. "False alarm, it was just a pulse spike." said Ares. Oregon settled down again and was about to resume checking his weapons when suddenly, "Hey fucktard, I'm getting some shit over here." Oregon got up and rushed to Idaho's side.

"What is it?" asked Oregon. "At first I thought it was just a spike, but now his pulse is speeding up, at a bloody fast rate too." said Ares. Oregon looked down at Idaho's motionless body waiting for something to happen. "He's waking up! He's fucking waking up!" said Ares.

Idaho's eyelids slowly opened and the first thing he saw was the blur of Oregon whom Idaho could not identify. "Take it easy." said Oregon in his American accent. When Idaho's eyes fully opened, he threw a fist into Oregon's face and stood upright.

"What the fuck man?" Oregon said in shock. "Why are you tracking me bitch?" said Idaho angrily. "So you knew." said Oregon, rubbing his face. "I found it while checking my armour for damage after I left the carrier." said Idaho. "Nice job at that. The way I heard, disrupting that fleet put off reinforcements to glass a UNSC colony." "That was just to blow off some steam. Now answer the fucking question! Why are you tracking me?" demanded Idaho. "Look noob, this is the way I see it. We're two AWOL Freelancers who could do better with each other's help." said Oregon standing up to have the same level of eye contact with Idaho. "I don't need your help." said Idaho.

"I'm not the one who nearly died in a Forerunner Facility twice. You could use my expertise in this kinda thing. And I admit, I could use some better companionship." Ares appeared "Hey!" Both of the Freelancers turned to look at Ares. "Fine, assholes." said Ares before logging off. There was a long silence before Oregon spoke. "So what do you say?"

Idaho thought about it for a while 'I could use the extra help. Then again, I'm not too keen on getting double-crossed, again.' Seven seconds passed before Idaho responded. "Fine, I'll see where this goes."

"Good." said Oregon. "Where's my helmet?" Idaho said while looking around Oregon's makeshift shelter. "On the crate over there." Oregon said while pointing to a crate where both of the Strider helmet and the Rogue helmet lay. "I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty to clean your air filters." Idaho turned to look at Oregon. "Thanks. And sorry about your face." Oregon shrugged, "Yeah, what about that, dipshit?" "It's a reflex." Idaho said while holding his helmet in his hands. "So, do you sucker punch your parents every time they wake early?" asked Oregon smugly. "Jesus Christ, your annoying as Washington said you were." Idaho murmured. "Hey, it's my trademark." Oregon said while walking to pick up his own helmet.

"Damn it my neck feels like someone put a fucking incineration grenade on it." Idaho said while rubbing his neck. "Well, that's what I thought happened. I gave you some meds for the burns and you should be ok." said Oregon. "Thanks dude." said Idaho. "Don't wear it out." replied Oregon

Idaho looked around Oregon's shelter. "This is a nice place you've got." Idaho said sarcastically. "Hey, it's the best I could do in twenty minutes." Oregon responded defensively.  
"I didn't say it was bad."  
"You didn't say it was good either."

"So, what exactly happened to you in that facility? Looks like something punched you across the room." said Oregon. Idaho sighed and observed his helmet. "That's closer to the mark then you might think." he replied. "So, mind telling me what the hell I signed up for?" asked Oregon. "Don't think about bullshitting me either. I have you hooked up to Ares, so he can tell me if you're lying or not." He turned to look at Ares' avatar. "Right?" "Yeah, I could. But what's in it for me?" asked Ares. "I won't throw you into a river." deadpanned Oregon. "Fine" muttered Ares.

Idaho spent four minutes giving Oregon a brief explanation about how he met California, how California promised to help him find Zeta, how he betrayed him, how he and his AI kicked his ass in the facility, but slightly more to Idaho's favour. At the same time, Oregon was passing canisters of food for Idaho.

"Hmm, well the way I heard it, California was supposed to be one of the original five Freelancers, before he went AWOL." said Oregon. "He's supposed to be even better than Tex." That caught Idaho's attention and Idaho turned for a second to look at Oregon.

"So, you up for the challenge?" asked Idaho. Oregon shrugged. "Sure, why not. I was fucking bored anyway." Idaho smiled before slipping on his helmet. "Good." Oregon did the same and did a 'thumbs up' gesture.

"So, what's our next move?" asked Oregon as he started to pick up some of the canisters of food that weren't empty and tossing the empty ones into the small fire that he had made. "I was hoping you knew." Idaho replied while picking up and checking his weapons, then strapping them back to his holsters.

Oregon sighed. "Well, I don't think there'll be room for the both of us and Ares' attitude on my fucking Drop-ship, which means we'll have to steal something a little bigger." "Hey asshole!" protested Ares. Idaho shrugged. "Fine by me, I've been wanting to steal something as much as a Frigate for months now." Idaho turned to face Oregon. "Wait, you have a Drop-ship?" "Yeah, I stole it when no one was looking. I rigged a Slip-space engine to it, and I've been travelling with it for a while." said Oregon proudly. "C'mon, I'll show you it." Oregon said as he picked up the remaining canisters of food and attached them to his Mongoose.

Oregon drove the Mongoose with Idaho hanging on behind it for twelve minutes before coming to a stop near a cave. "It's behind those bushes." said Oregon. "Give me a hand with the leaves." Idaho helped to pull the leaves off of Oregon's ship which became more and more visible as he pulled more leaves off. To anyone at first glance, the ship looked like a structure overgrown with flora, but if they actually looked closely, they would be able to see the ship.

The leaves mostly covered the entrance and the trees hid the rest of the ship. As soon as the two Freelancers were done removing the leaves, Oregon pressed the button to lower the ramp. "Is this what we've been brought down to?" asked Idaho sarcastically. "Picking leaves off of star-ships?" Oregon chuckled. "Try not to have a panic attack when you get inside ok?" "Why would I have a panic attack?"

As Idaho entered the cargo bay of the ship, the lights were off before Oregon inserted Ares into a terminal in the ship. As the lights came on, Idaho realised that the cargo bay was full, but not with supplies like most other charter ships had. Oregon's ship was full of Forerunner artefacts that glowed and hummed in sequence.

Idaho jumped back startled by this. "What the hell man?" Idaho's screamed. "What's with all the Forerunner tech?" "It's, a hobby." Oregon responded. "Oh, so you steal Forerunner relics in your free time?" said Idaho offensively. "Steal is such a strong word. I like to think of it as, salvaging or collecting. And it's not in my free time. I do this every day." said Oregon. Idaho began to calm down. "So, how many of them are there?" Idaho asked out of curiosity. "Thirty-two." Oregon responded. "C'mon, you should probably strap in before we take off." Oregon said as he and Idaho walked to the cockpit. "So, do you have any trouble when piloting this ship?" asked Idaho. "Well, yesterday I almost slip-spaced into a sun. And the day before that the whole ship shutdown." Oregon began to list. Idaho sighed in despair. "Great, I'm gonna fucking die."  
"Hey, I'm still here aren't I? And besides that's not even the worst one."  
"I don't want to hear it!"

Oregon began to start up the ships engines. "Alright, things look ok. Prepare for take-off." Oregon said as he pressed a few more buttons and grabbed the throttle. But just as they were three feet off the ground, the ship's engines turned off and the ship fell to the ground. "What happened?" Idaho asked. "It must be the Forerunner tech." Oregon responded before getting out of his seat and moving to check the engine room. Idaho sighed and thought to himself. 'This is sooo going to get worse before it gets better.'


End file.
